A Future With you
by NxghtMxre-Nxvelist
Summary: When Steven and Peridot were down in the earth's core to defeat the cluster, Steven's words meant much more. Now that the cluster is defeated, what will the two short Crystal Gems do now? How will others take their new relationship?
1. A Moment With You

**A Moment We Change**

Everything after the Crystal Gems had finally defeated the cluster had felt off. Sure the gems had celebrated their big success on the drill, but two gems had felt different.

Steven and Peridot had said some things in the drill down in the earth's crust, and now could barely stop staring at each other. Both Steven and Peridot would blush when their eyes made contact, and they would sit far apart.

The other gems didn't seem to notice their strange behavior, and were too focus on Lapis still asleep in the barn after being separated from Jasper. After everyone had let Steven sleep in the barn truck and left to the temple, Peridot came to him to talk.

She whispered, "Steven…"

The boy in the truck got up and called back, "Peridot…"

Peridot came over and waited until Steven signaled her to come on the back of the truck. When she finally sat next to him, Peridot spoke. "So…I've been wondering about our relationship Steven."

The boy fondles with his thumbs, "Yeah, me too."

Peridot looked straight at the floor, "I recall that you said something in the drill, and… I'm wondering…"

"What…" Steven looked at Peridot with a curious look.

Peridot blushed but looked into Steven's eyes, "Is…what you said true?"

Steven knew what she was talking about, how could he forget, he told Peridot that he loved her. Steven remembered the feelings he was going through when he thought of dying right then and there: Sacred, Shocked, Sad, and Guilt.

Then he remembered the one thing that was on his mind: Peridot.

Steven swallows a hard lump forming in his throat, "I…I-I do mean it …Peridot"

Peridot didn't response, waiting for him to finish his thought. Steven looked away and mumbled something, Peridot couldn't hear him.

"What was that?"

Then the boy turned back, blushing like mad and grabbing her shoulders before speaking a little louder, "I love you Peridot."

Peridot didn't say anything as she blushed a darker shade of green. Steven blushed a tomato color and lets go of her. Steven couldn't help but let go of her and grab a fist full of his shirt, "I'm…I'm s-sorry Peridot… I shouldn't have said t-that…you might not feel the same way."

Then he grabs his head and yells, "I'm such an idiot!"

"No, you're not…"

Steven looks at Peridot wondering if he really just heard that. Peridot wasn't sure Steven heard it so she repeated, "You're not an idiot."

Steven just stayed quieted, really wondering if he was dreaming right now. He just confessed his love for Peridot, a new crystal gem that had tried to kill him before, and Peridot didn't call him an idiot. The boy's heart rate was hitting high speeds.

Peridot spoke again, "I know what this 'love' is you speak of Steven."

Steven was confused, "You do?"

She nods, "Yes, the fusion told me what love is between two people. The feelings, the wants, and… what you do… when you feel it."

Steven's eyes wide, fully understanding what the green gem was saying. He whispers, "Peridot…"

She looks up at the boy in front of her and whispers back, "Steven…"

He swallowed that lump again and moves closer to Peridot so he didn't had to speak so loud. "Do you love me?"

Peridot squeaked hearing him say it out loud. Blushing all over, she nods.

Without even thinking twice about anything, Steven kisses Peridot's cheek. Steven was blushing, but he didn't care. This felt so right to the boy, Peridot's cheek was warm to his lips, and grew warmer when he kept kissing it.

Peridot didn't move, she didn't speak, the action Steven just did set her as still as a statue. Her insides were on fire! She knew she would like the kiss, but she didn't know how much she would. Time seemed to froze, the kiss only last a long minute, but to the two gems it felt like years before Steven pulled away.

When Steven opened his eyes, he realized that Peridot's face was so close to his, making him blush like a tomato. Peridot realized the same thing and tingled when she felt Steven's breath on her cheek. She closes her eyes and moans, not really knowing why.

She opens her eyes again when she felt hands on her visor. It was Steven; he was lightly brushing the sides of her visor as he kept looking at her eyes.

Steven seemed hypnotized by them when he asked, "Can I see your eyes?"

Peridot smiles and nods at his request. Steven then very slowly took off her visor and gasped at the beautiful eyes. One was lovely lime green, and the other was bright sky blue. Steven couldn't help but smile at the two eyes, he never seen such pretty jewel ords.

Steven must have stayed quiet too long, because Peridot whined, "Come on Steven! Say some thing!"

The half gem spoke, "So pretty… Your eyes are so beautiful. You're so beautiful."

Peridot pushes away from Steven, scaring the boy. He didn't know what he said wrong. "Peridot? What- what…"

"I'm not beautiful!"

Peridot is blushing in such a dark green color that Steven thought she would pass out. She grabs her visor and speaks, "I'm not beautiful Steven."

"Of course you are…"

"No" She turns away from him and whispers, "I'm not. I'm a Peridot, Steven. Even if you're half quartz you're still a higher rank up gem than me. You deserve someone better than me."

"That's crazy talk!"

Peridot whips around to see a blushing yet angry looked Steven. He was upset at what he was hearing from her, "I don't want anyone but you!"

He then grabs Peridot's hands and pulls her closer to him again, dropping her visor. He cups her right cheek and looks deep in her eyes, "I don't want another quartz, I want you. I want you to be my Peridot. I want you to be my gem."

Peridot bit her lip, "What about the other human?"

He gives her a confused look, "What other human?"

"The one at your 'birth' date celebration."

Steven knows the one she's talking about, "You mean Connie?"

She nods, "You two seem perfect together. Way better then me. You're both humans, and around the same age. You even fused with her from what I was told from Amethyst. You guys would-"

He shakes his head, "No, stop. Stop! I don't want Connie either. I like her as a friend, but I don't love her."

Steven lets go of Peridot and stares down at the floor of the back of the truck. A long pause happens before Steven spoke again, "When we were down at the earth's core to stop the cluster, and that earthquake happened, I thought I was a goner…"

Peridot nods at this, she felt the same way.

He continues, "I saw my life flash before me, and when I was thinking of what I wanted to do before I die, you were the only thing on my mind."

Peridot feels the fire in her stomach again.

"And when you said to say my last words, I could only think of those words. I could only think of you."

Steven looked up at Peridot again with determination in his eyes. He spoke with boldness, "I don't love Connie. I don't love anyone the way I do for you. I love you Peridot. You're funny, cute, and smart. I want you, and no one else."

Steven held her hands and looks deep in her eyes again, "You're my universe. I love you."

Peridot felt like fireworks exploded within her, she couldn't believe what she heard from him. He loved her, her. Every since she learned love, she always felt Steven was the only one who got her, who knew her. She thought that Steven couldn't love a weak, helpless, ugly gem like her and just was kidding herself. But this wasn't true, he did love her.

Steven loved Peridot.

She couldn't think of anything else when she wrapped her arms around Steven's neck and kissed him right on the lips.

Steven was shocked by her sudden action, but then wrapped his arms around Peridot's small waist and kisses her back with the same force. His heart burned with passion and his stomach did flips. He didn't want this to stop. This was his heaven.

Peridot felt her body glow and burn with the heat of a hundred suns. She could only think on how Steven was kissing her back. She felt all of her problems wash away through this kiss alone. She couldn't even remember where they were. Only Steven and his lips processed in her mind.

They both pull away at the same time to look at each other. Their blushes were gone, their eyes looked deep within each other's, and their arms didn't move off of the other. The just stared at each other until Peridot spoke, "I'm sorry…"

Steven smiled at her, "Don't be…"

Peridot's blush came back, "What are we going to tell the gems about you and me."

Steven thought this over a bit. He wanted to tell them, but he knew how they still treated Peridot badly around him. Only Amethyst seemed to be nice to her, and Garnet just seems on the neutral party. Pearl was the only one still being upset with the green gem being near Steven. There was a question he had been meaning to ask though about something.

"I want to tell them Peridot," Steven says, "But if you don't want to right now, then I get it. I just have one question though."

"What's that?' Peridot asked.

"Why didn't you stay at my birthday? If you already liked me, why didn't you come?"

Peridot bit her lip at this, but since Steven was looking at her with almost pleading brown eyes she gave in. With a sigh she speaks slowly. "Cause of what Pearl said…"

Steven just held her tighter and whispered back, "What did she say Peridot…?"

"When Amethyst told me about your birth party…. Pearl pulled me into the barn and… threaten me… to stay away."

The brunette couldn't believe what she was saying. Pearl threaten Peridot. Steven had to hold himself calm to make sure he didn't start going nuts. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking back into those beautiful mismatched eyes. "What did Pearl say to you, Peridot? Please… tell me."

Peridot was a bit scared, but just held in her fear as she explained, "I was going to go to your birth party. I wanted to get you a 'gift', as Amethyst called them, and everything…. but Pearl didn't like that. She told me I was still a danger to you and the others. Pearl said to not get close to you, and once the cluster was dealt with... to leave. I was angry, but then she said about you and the other human being together and I snapped." Tears were forming in her eyes, breaking Steven's heart in two.

He waited as she continued. "I put on a face, but really… after you left the barn… and stayed by the other human female… I cried in the barn the whole time. After you turned back to normal I stayed away, but you kept getting close to me. I'm sorry…"

Steven shook his head at that and wiped the tears that fell off her cheek. He spoke firmly to her, "There's no reason to be sorry. If anything, I'm sorry. I should have seen something was wrong with you not there. I never thought of you as a threat Peridot. I love you. I don't care what Pearl said. She can't protect me forever. I'm 14, and need to take care of myself. I want you to be my gem; my little Peri. Will you be with me?"

Peridot smiled and kissed his cheek. "You don't even have to ask. I want you to be my quartz soldier. Will you be with me?"

"Of course!"

The kiss one more time and break off. Peridot grabs her visor, and was going to leave until Steven pulled at her hand. Steven blushed at her and asked, "Could you…" he stayed quiet.

"What Steven," Peridot says sweetly.

"Could you… sleep with me tonight?"

Peridot smiles and gives Steven a peck on the lips, "Sure Steven. I could try sleep with you."

Steven blushed and moves aside to let Peridot in the covers. She comes in and snuggles up in Steven chest, hearing his fast heart beat. "Steven, come down…"

Steven wraps his arms around Peridot, "I'm sorry, I never share a bed with someone."

"You shared one with that Connie girl."

Steven blushes again and speaks a little too loud, "That was different! I was a baby at the time!"

Peridot giggles, "That's okay Steven, so how do you sleep."

"Oh, well you just get comfortable."

"Like this," she snuggles closer to Steven's chest.

He starts to feel warm too, "Yeah, then you just… think of nothing."

Peridot is confused and looks up at Steven, "How do I do that?"

"Just don't think."

Peridot is still confused, but nods and tries to think of nothing. It happened faster than she thought it would because in two minutes she passed out. Steven chuckles and kisses her gem, making Peridot hum at the feeling. Steven gets nice and cozy before whispering "Love you", and falling asleep.


	2. A Chat With Others

**A Chat With The Others**

Steven was the first to wake up from his dreams. He had a wonderful dream of him and Peridot kissing at the beach. It made him giggle thinking about it and blushed rethinking the kiss. He wanted to get up but then saw the beautiful green gem still wrapped in his arms. She seemed so peaceful sleeping. Steven could hear her snore just a tiny bit, making Steven giggle even more.

' _She's_ _so cute when she snores._ '

Steven kissed her now exposed gem and whispers in at the side of her head, hoping she had ears, "Morning, beautiful…"

The gem started to stir a bit before opening her green and blue eyes and looking at Steven. Peridot first seemed confused before getting up in a sitting position and looking at the hybrid. She asked him, "Did I just sleep?"

Steven nods and then stretches, "Yeah, you did Peridot. How did it feel to you?"

Peridot rubs her chin before answering, "Oddly refreshing."

Steven gets up and held out a hand to her, "See, I knew you would like it."

Peridot smiles and takes Steven's hand. Once she did, he picked her up and gave her a peck on the cheek. She giggled at his action and grabbed her visor to put it on.

"Do you have to put that back on," Steven pouted but still smiled.

She puts it on before answering, "Yes Steven. I'm a Peridot, it custom to wear them, and I like them any how."

Steven folds his blanket and sighs, "I know, but I like to look at your eyes Peridot. I can't see those pretty colors when I see just a lime visor over them."

Peridot hops off the truck and places her hands on her hips, "Tell you what; I'll let you see them tonight when we sleep again."

Steven had stars in his eyes, "Really, you'll still sleep with me tonight!?"

"Of course! I really liked it, and since we're together I don't want to leave my quartz," she winks at him.

Steven blushes at the nickname she gave him. He still couldn't believe that he was dating Peridot. It felt like a dream.

When Steven finished his bed up, he and Peridot went to look at Lapis who was still asleep in some hay. He frowned looking at her struggle in her dream. It took all she had to hold Jasper, and from the look of it in his dreams, it was painful.

Peridot saw Steven's distress and held his hand in hers. He then hums at the touch but never left his gaze off Lapis.

He spoke, "When do you think she'll wake up?"

Peridot looked at Lapis, "It's hard to say. She seemed to have used a lot of her gem energy. It still amazed me that she didn't retreat to her gem."

Steven sheds a tear, "I hope it's soon. I don't want her to suffer for me anymore."

Peridot got in front of Steven and wiped the liquid away from Steven's eye. She knew by what Steven told her, that this was sadness. She looks in his sad eyes and gave him a smile, "She'll wake up Steven. Just give her time."

Steven squeezed their held hands and nods. He knew that she was right. They left Lapis and went out of the barn and saw a van coming up from the distance. Steven knew who van that was right away.

"It's Dad!"

Both of the gems ran up to the upcoming van. When the van stops it was Steven's Dad, Greg, out of the van. He had a smile and went to hug his son.

"Steven! How's my kiddo?!"

Steven lets go of Peridot's hand and hugs his dad back, "I'm good dad."

Greg lets him go and looks down at him, "I heard that you and the green gem just saved the world."

Steven nods and grabs Peridot hand, "Yeah, Me and Peridot bubbled the cluster."

Greg held out a hand to Peridot, "Thanks for helping out my son Peridot."

Peridot hesitated before taking his hand. She thought it was for a handshake, but was mistaken when Greg pulled her and hugged her tight. Peridot screamed and pushed off the man and went behind Steven, who laughed.

"It's not funny," She yelled at her quartz.

He spoke up, "Of course it was Peridot! My dad just wanted to hug you. You're so cute when you're scared."

Peridot blushed and Steven took her hands in his. Greg knew right away that something was up with his son, "Hey… Steven?"

He looks at his dad, "Yeah Dad."

"Is there something going on with you two, "Greg points between his son and Peridot.

Steven blushed like a red tomato again, giving Greg his answer. He laughed and hugged his son again in a tight grip. This scared Steven.

"Dad!? What are you doing!?"

Greg just yelled, "I can't believe my little man has his first girlfriend! You're growing up so fast!"

Peridot just laughed back, but then regretted it when Greg grabbed her and hugged her too. Both of the gems were yelling at him until Greg finally let go and looked at the two. "I'm sorry, I'm just happy for you strew-ball. And to think it's a gen like me and his mom."

Steven rubbed his gut and smiled, "Thanks dad, just don't do that again."

Peridot looked less happy, but still happy, "Yes, please."

Greg nodded and heard something off in the distance, "I think that was a warp pad."

Steven jumped, "It's the gems! They're here!"

And right on crew, the three gems: Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, came up to the three with big smiles.

Pearl spoke first, "Good morning Steven, Greg, and Peridot."

Amethyst patted Steven's head, "How's it going Steve-man?"

Steven answers, "Great Amethyst! Do I have a surprise for you guys."

"What's the surprise Steven," Garnet asked coming up to the group.

Greg backed up and let the gems look at Peridot and Steven. No one spoke and Steven took Peridot's hand. Peridot was scared at the gems reaction to them, but Steven wanted to blow this over soon. Besides, he needed to talk to Pearl later. He gives her a smile before blushing and looking at the gems. He said happily, "Me and Peridot are now dating!"

Right away, Steven regrets saying this. Pearl and Amethyst had their mouths opened and eyes wide. Garnet looked shocked but then smiled and spoke first, "I knew it."

Steven and Peridot blushed and looked at the fusion, "You knew?"

Garnet nodded, "I saw tons of future events, but this one was still a shocker."

"And… you're okay with it?" Steven asked, hopeful.

"Even if I wasn't Steven, you would still be with her… so that would be a yes." The big gem smiled sweetly at him.

The two gems stay quiet and looked at Pearl and Amethyst to speak up. Amethyst laughed and grabbed Steven in a choke hole. Steven tried to break from it, but it didn't work. "Amethyst!"

She just laughed and spoke, "Yoy! Steve-man! Never thought you had it in you to get a girlfriend. You caught yourself a prey man!"

Steven finally pulled back and laughed back, "Thanks Amethyst!"

The purple gem then hugged Peridot, "And Peri! Only two weeks as a Crystal Gem and you got Steven as your boyfriend. You work fast."

Peridot pulled away too and blushed, "Yes, thank you Amethyst."

She nods, still laughing. Everyone then looks at Pearl, who still stayed quiet. She just looked between Peridot and Steven. The gem teen just looked up at the still shocked gem. He knew that this is a shocker for Pearl, but now she can't try to get rid of her. Steven loved Peridot, but he still wanted Pearls response to this. No one said a word until Steven broke it by saying, "Pearl…"

Pearl broke out of her gazed and looked at Steven, "Oh Steven. I'm… happy… for you" Her smile is a bit forced, telling Peridot and Steven that she was lying. "It's just… I thought Connie was your girlfriend."

Steven did a jolt of unease while Peridot went a bit tense. The brunette knew that Pearl didn't like this, but now she's bring up Connie. Steven haven't told her yet about loving Peridot more, but he thinks that Connie didn't really like him like that either. Connie was only 12, and it would look weird for them to being dating since he was two years older and not in school. Plus, they may seem close but Steven had a feeling that Connie didn't love him either. They never talked, but it was there that they acted more like brother and sister then crushes.

The teen sighs and looks at Pearl with a hard look. He speaks firmly, "Pearl… I don't know what you believe, but Connie and I are not dating. I thought that I might like her… even risked my own health for her on my birthday, but I don't like her anymore… not like that. I love Peridot."

"But Steven," Pearl looked to be struggling a bit to form words, "I'm sure Connie thought-"

"No she did not." Steven snaps back a bit to harshly.

Feeling the tension, Amethyst and Greg moved ways back from the three and Garnet frowned at Pearl. The other two have since them argue once before, but not Greg or Peridot. This was really new for them. No one spoke until Steven spoke once more.

"Me and Connie only talked about being a couple once, and we both agreed to just be friends for now and see what happens. That was after I healed her eyes. We thought we might like each other when we fused too, but learning from Garnet realized that our fusion was more made of friendship. We went no farther than that Pearl, best friends."

Pearl tried to speak once more, but Steven stopped her again.

"What happened on my birthday was because I was still confused. Beside Peridot, Connie was the only other girl I knew and liked. I thought that if I try hard, I grow to love her. I was wrong. After I grew back to normal, I thought long and hard about my feelings. Pearl, Connie to me is more of a sister than a crush. Whenever I felt down, she picked me up and vise versa. I haven't talked to her yet, but I don't think she loves me either. I love Peridot. I will be with Peridot even if you don't agree. I love you like a mom Pearl, but being 14 now and stronger than most human teens I think I can take care of myself and choose who I be with."

Everyone was silent after Steven's big speech. Peridot was smiling at Steven's braveness and held his hand tighter. Garnet seemed to smile as well, but only a small bit. Greg nodded at his son's speech as well and gave him a father's grin. Amethyst still held a wide shocked expression before whistling out loud.

"Oh, P got burned by short stuff."

Pearl snapped her head at Amethyst before looking back down at Steven and Peridot. She didn't know what to say. She still deep down didn't like Peridot. She thought the green gem was getting better since she told off Yellow Diamond, but now Peridot was dating her baby. Pearl doesn't think she could get use to this.

In the end, Pearl just turned around and walked away without a word.

The others were even more shocked to not hear her argue, but Garnet turned back to the group and spoke calmly. "It's okay. She'll come around, Steven. Give it time."

Steven sighed and shook his head at the fusion. "I don't think I can Garnet. Pearl had treated Peridot bad after she started to help us with the drill. I need to talk to her again about something else, but right now I just want to calm down and get ready to leave."

"Okay Steven. I'm proud of you today."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah man," Amethyst jumped in with a grin on her face, "You stood up for you and your woman, Steven. Pearl had no right to bring up Connie like that."

Greg placed a hand on the purple gem's shoulder and frowned a bit before looking up at Steven. "Even so Amethyst, Steven… you do have to talk about Connie about you and Peridot. Everyone thought you two would be together, and now that you're with Peridot you might need to make sure Connie doesn't like you like that."

Steven nods back, "Okay dad. I'll talk to her as soon as we get back. I'll call her to come over."

Greg had gotten Steven's stuff packed and ready to go and the gems were ready to go back to Beach City. Steven wanted Peridot to come with him, but she refused.

"I'm sorry Steven, but I like this place better than your bathroom. Plus, I think I need to fix that hole I cause in the barn."

Steven pouted but nods, "Okay Peridot, I understand."

Peridot puts her hands on his cheeks and gives him a peck on the lips, "Hey, don't be like that Steven. I'll come and visit as soon as I'm done with the hole. Then will talk to your human friend."

Steven lights up, "Okay, as long as you come over to spend time with me and help me with Connie. I'll miss my slice of pie."

Peridot blushed, "Stop talking."

The boy laughed at her blushed face and hugs her. When everything is packed in Greg's van, Steven takes one look at the barn and sees Lapis still asleep. He frowns seeing her discomfort. Garnet was right behind him looking as well.

Garnet spoke, "Don't worry Steven. She'll wake up."

Steven sighs, "I hope so."

"Her fusion with Jasper was unhealthy. It's going to take time for her to get rid of the negative effect, even when she wakes up."

Steven hugs Garnet's leg, "Thanks for telling me, and for not bubbling her."

She pets his head, "No problem Steven."

Greg yells out at them, "Hey guys! We're ready to go!"

When Garnet and the other gems get in the van, Steven stands near Peridot. He held her hand and told his dad that he would take Loin back to the city. The others left after that and Peridot said that she had to dismantle the drill and to see him later, leaving him alone to go back in the barn.

Going in the barn, Steven noticed straight away that Lapis was gone from the haystack. He then saw a blue short hair gem standing out the hole Peridot made in the barn.

Steven called out, "Lapis!"

She turns around and smiles at the boy she knew very well, "Steven!"


	3. A Barn With Mates

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strongspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Hello Readers! I'm DJ Mash! /span/strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strongspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Here is Chapter three of my story. I hope you like it!/span/strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strongspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Please review if you can. I'm new at this so any type of comment would be fine./span/strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strongspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Now on to the story!/span/strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strongspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/span/strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"After the crazy water wing ride around different cities and learning about Lapis's past of ending up on earth, Steven and his blue friend are back at the barn. Lapis said that she wanted to stay at the barn, but something was wrong, Peridot was staying too. After that, Lapis has been rude to her and told Steven many times not to trust her. Steven hadn't had the right time to tell her that he was dating the green gem, and after so many tries on Peridot's part to be friends with Lapis, he starts to get a little angry at her./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"After Lapis destroyed a tape recorder Peridot gave to her, Peridot starts to leave the barn just like Lapis wanted. Steven wanted her to stay but Peridot was too hurt to listen. "Wait, Peridot! Come back!" Peridot doesn't come back./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lapis is confused by Steven trying to keep the green gem here, "Steven, why do you care about her? How can you trust her?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Steven did like to yell, but it was getting hard not to, "Because I know her. Lapis you're not even giving her a chance."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lapis got angry, "I do know her, Steven. She's a Homeworld gem and tried to steal you from your home. She can't be trusted!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No! You're just like Pearl! You don't know what you're talking about! I know Peridot! She's funny and smart and-"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lapis interrupted, "How can you say that!?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Cause I Love Her!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lapis backed away from Steven's outburst. She couldn't believe what she heard. Of course she knew what love was, she saw it for years through humans and also seeing Rose with what was a younger form of Steven's father, but she didn't think for a second that Steven loved /br /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lapis looked at him with fear, "What?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Steven calms himself down before answering, "You heard me Lapis. I love Peridot. You were trapped underwater for so long that you never saw how much Peridot changed. She got to know many things about humans and the Crystal Gems. She even became one by yelling at Yellow Diamond herself. She's grown a lot Lapis."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lapis just stood there, not saying a word to let Steven finish. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He sighs and looks at the floor, "She knows what she did was wrong, that's one of the reasons I fell for her. She can now tell what's right and wrong on earth, and she just wants to fix the damage she caused to you Lapis…"br /br /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Steven looks at the broken tape on the ground, "…but now it's too late, and she's never coming back again."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Just as Steven says those words, they both hear a loud screaming from the distance. Steven knew right away it was Peridot, "oh… she's coming back again."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Peridot ran right past them to the barn screaming, "They're here!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lapis and Steven look at what Peridot was running from and ran with her, it looked like a big red oval eye. Steven came to Peridot, who was crouching down on the barn floor, "What is that thing?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Peridot doesn't look up, "it's a Roaming Eye! I told you; I'm public enemy number one!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" They hear the eye come closer, making Peridot squeak, but Steven shushed her and waited for the eye to left. They thought it was gone, but the eye found the hole in the barn. Steven yelped, "Run!" Lapis and Peridot follow Steven out of the barn, but the Roaming Eye are in front of them, its beam pointing at Peridot./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Peridot screams and hides behind Steven, "It's over Steven. I'm a goner."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Steven won't let that happen, "Stay behind me! I'll protect you!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lapis walks up in front of them and looks one more time at Peridot/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She then summons the water by the near pond Peridot made for her. She makes a big hand with it and flicks the eye. Then she grabs the eye with the water and crushes it by turning the water to ice and squeezed to the point of a flat pancake. Releasing the water and putting it back in the pound, Peridot and Steven stand behind her in shock./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Peridot speaks, "Holy smokes…" then beings to walk away to the barn./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Peridot," the green gem turns to look at Lapis, "Are you okay?" Peridot thought she was dreaming at first, but then give Lapis a big smile. Lapis just looked nervous but tried to nod./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Steven looks at the two and then hugs them and kisses Peridot in the cheek, "Yeah! Barn Mates!"/span/p 


	4. A Say From Connie

The past week after Lapis and Peridot became barn mates had been great. Garnet had went to look at the roaming eye to find out that they were gems shards in the ship, making Steven sad about Lapis shattering those gems, but they tried to hurt Peridot so he really couldn't complain that much. Pearl had not came out of her room yet, and won't let anyone in. Steven tried but she just didn't open up, so he thought to talk to someone else that he needed to talk to.

It was the weekend now, and Steven was waiting for Peridot to come over because Connie was coming as well. He called her to talk about something important. She said that she needed to talk to him too. Now it was the afternoon, and the gem hybrid was really nervous now. how would Connie take it that him and Peridot were dating now. Steven was happy with Peridot. They laugh together and have great times together, but would Connie understand. He didn't want to lose her friendship with her.

While Steven was sitting down on the couch, Amethyst came in and saw how nervous he was. "Hey Steven. Calm down man or you're going to rip the couch."

Steven looks at his hands to see that his fingers are holding on so are that he could the couch open. He lets go and grins nervously at the purple gem. "I'm sorry Amethyst. I'm just nervous about Connie. She's coming over and I'm worried."

"You got nothing to worry about Steven. It'll be fine." Amethyst grabs a bag of chips from the kitchen and walks back out to her room. "Have fun Steve-man!"

"You to Amethyst! With me chips…."

After Amethyst left, it was about two more minutes before someone was at his door. Steven got up and knew right away who it was. With a slow count down from three, Steven opens the door to see Connie. She wearing her white t-shirt and blue shorts. Her long curly brown hair is tied up to a ponytail and see wasn't wearing glasses of course.

She smiled at Steven and spoke happily, "Hey Steven!"

Steven returned the smile and brought her in the house. "Hey Connie. I'm glad you made it."

"My mom had to cancel tennis practice today, but I told her you said it was important so she's cool now." Connie explains as she sits on the couch.

"Thanks Connie. I'm sorry to call you today, but this is really important and we need to talk."

"Of course Steven. Now tell me what's wrong? Is it a gem thing?"

"Well," Steven rubs his arm as he sits on the couch with Connie, little nervous. "It is…"

"Is it something that you can't tell the gems about? Gem stuff is really their thing." The brunette asked in confusion.

"It's not about the gems. It's really about… you and me." the gem hybrid tries to explain as he starts to sweat.

Connie was even more confused now, but kept calm at seeing that Steven was really nervous about this. "Steven… what's wrong?"

Before Steven could choke up on trying to explain, the warp pad activates to show Peridot coming out of it. The green dust herself off and walks towards Steven, not noticing Connie yet. She came to give him a hug and Steven hugged back.

"Hey Peri!" Steven was realive for her to show up now. "I'm glad you made it. What took you?"

"I'm sorry Steven, but Lapis needed help to get use to the barn. We also finished the barn with the hole at least. I'm here now though, so is the Connie here?" Peridot asked as she looked up at her gem.

"Um, It's just Connie," Connie spoke up trying to get there attention.

The two gems look back at Connie and the two sit back down on the couch. Peridot stay next to Steven to make sure Connie didn't try to hurt her. The green gem was still scared of most humans. Steven smiled at his shy gem and pointed at Connie to introduce them.

"Connie, this is Peridot. Peridot, this is my friend Connie. Just 'Connie'."

Connie held out a hand to her and saw her flitch just a bit, but the brunette just smiled at her and spoke softly. "It's okay Peridot. Steven's told me a lot about you. I hope we could be friends."

Peridot looked at the hand before taking it slowly and shaking it. "Thank you, Connie… I heard things about you too from Steven… and Pearl."

After the girls shook hands, Steven grinned and spoke up now. "okay, now that everyone is here we can start."

"What does Peridot being here have to do with your problem Steven?" Connie asked.

"It's not a problem Connie. I'm… I just wanted to tell you something and it has to do with Peridot and me." Steven breathed in deeply and looked at Peridot. She smiled and held onto his hand. After Steven was sure he could do this now, he looked straight at Connie and spoke slowly, "Connie… me and Peridot are dating."

Connie's eyes grow wide when hearing this. She was shocked to hear this. Steven had told her a lot about Peridot and how she was a homeworld gem that tried to hurt them before. She just became a Crystal Gem from what Steven told her, and now Peridot is Dating Steven. It was just a shock, pure and simple.

"Oh…" Connie finally breathes out, "For… for how long?"

Peridot answers, "For about a week."

"Well… that's… something…." Connie looked to be thinking it over in her head.

Steven was just beyond worried since Connie stopped speaking after that. He looked at her and explained further. "Me and Peridot have been together that long, Connie. I will saw that Peridot was the enemy once before… but she's changed now… and, I-I really… love her. I've been crushing over her for a while. I just found Peridot just so funny and interesting. She always was shocked when learning more human things, and when she song for the first time… Peridot sounded… like an a-angel."

Steven started to blush as Peridot and Connie listen closely to him speak about the green gem. Peridot blushed green as well hearing how he thought she song that one night. Pearl had said she was terrible, but hearing Steven saw something so sweet made all of the negative comments go away.

Steven continued once he fixed himself again. "I know me and you have talked about things between us, Connie. We both said that we would just stay as friends, and I love being your friend. I'm with Peridot now, and I've never been happier. I hope me being with her doesn't upset you."

It took a really long moment as Connie thought over what Steven had just said. After she thought really hard on it, she just shrugged. "Steven… I'm not gonna lie.. this is a big shock… but, I'm okay with this."

"What!?" Both gems shout in the chocolate female. Steven was the first to say sorry before going back to asking questions. "R-Really Connie? You're okay with me not being with you and with Peridot?"

Connie nods and looks at him with her bright eyes. "Steven… Let's be honest with each other. If we did date, it would be okay… but there wouldn't be a big spark. Even though we have the same hobbies, me and you are just too different."

"Different?"

"Exactly! I'm just a normal human with dreams of being a writer, while you are a hybrid that doesn't go to school and fight monsters. I age and get taller everyday, while you don't really age at all and could live longer than any other human. Me and you are just too different for it to work, Steven."

Steven thinks this over and nods his head the differences. Connie was right about everything. He smiles and speaks again to her, "You're right Connie. I felt the same way about us. My life is just too out there in space then yours."

"It's not just that Steven," Connie explains more, "I like to doing gem stuff with you, but I do have dreams of being a writer. I know Pearl will be upset, but I was thinking of stopping sword fighting soon too."

"Really? Why?" Steven asked in slight confusion.

"Like I said, I've have dreams Steven. I don't have much time before I start High school and that's where I have to work really hard. I can't just be a knight all my life. Plus, it's just the way the gems are. They think that since I took swordfighting that I should just fight monsters all my life. Not only had corrupted gems seem to have stopped after a while, but it's also quite sad."

Steven and Peridot look at each other before looking back at Connie in confusion and concern. Peridot spoke up next, "What do you mean by sad?"

Connie looks at the couple and sighs, "Steven… where do you see yourself in four years?"

"Oh… well…" Steven thinks this over and was stuck. He didn't seeing anything at all.

Connie took his silence as an 'I don't know' and continued. "See Steven. that's the problem with the gems. The just see bubbling gems forever and protecting you. Soon the corrupted gems will be gone, and as a long as Homeworld thinks the earth is about to be destroyed, then the earth is at peace. What will you do then? What will Peridot and you do?"

Connie was right. Steven did realize that gem monsters are showing up less and less. Soon there will no more left and the business as a Crystal Gem will be over. steven will have to think on what to do afterwards. And now with Peridot as a long term thing, he had to find a life for him. he needed to grow up.

"You're right Connie. The gems are like that. Soon I won't need to fight. Me and Peridot will have to find a new life. Maybe… I could go to school with you and find out what to do then… or something else."

Connie nods at Steven's idea and speaks back in a happy tone. "Yeah Steven! You and Peridot don't have to be Crystal Gems forever. You guys can have a peaceful life too. Isn't that what you told me your mom wanted for you?"

"It is."

"Then there you go! Do what your mom wanted you to do. Live as a human being!"

Steven smiles brightly at his friend and hugs her tightly. Connie hugs back before letting go. the gem teen grins and looks at Peridot as she grins as well. "Thanks Connie! I'm glad you're not mad."

"We're friends Steven. We stick together! We're still Breakfest Buds, right?" The brunette asked.

"Totally!"

"And Peridot. You take good care of Steven. He needs it."

Peridot smiles at her new friend. "No problem Connie. At least you agree with us."

Connie is confused and speaks to the green gem. "What do you mean? Who isn't okay with this?"

Steven sighs sadly as he answers for his girlfriend. "Pearl. She was really upset to hear that we were dating. She tried to make my feel guilty by saying me and you were really dating. I had to tell her off that me and you don't feel like that. Pearl still didn't come out of her room."

The chocolate skin girl gasped and frowned when hearing this. Connie looked at the temple door and back at the couple. "That's just messed up. Well I support you guys, and nothing will change that."

"Thanks Connie. Hope that Pearl will see that I'm not a little boy anymore. I'm 14 and can make my own plans. I think I'm going to take you advice and talk to my dad about schooling."

"That's great! You might be in High school, but we can totally see each other more often! And Peridot, Im sure you can go too and learn how to build things and the human culture."

Peridot hums in thought. "I might. It does sound interesting."

"Awesome! I love to help. Now how about I get to know you first Peridot, then will talk more about school. "

That afternoon, the three talked about school and other things while also learning more of Peridot. Then they watched TV and read books, while also teaching Peridot how to read. The three played around and had a good time before Connie had to leave for dinner, but before she left Pearl's door opened up. The three watched as the white gem came out looking a bit upset and staring at them. The kids could see the slight hope in her eyes and each glared a bit at her.

Connie thought of a evil plan and hugged Steven. "Bye Steven, I had a great time today. Call me when you talk to your dad."

Steven smiled back and hugged her too. "Sure thing Connie. I'm sure dad will like the idea you gave us.

"Okay," Connie then hugged Peridot, watching how Pearl choker a growl, and smiled at the green gem. "Bye to you too Peridot. I hope you and Steven have a great time! Congrats on being a couple!"

Peridot got the plan Connie just did and smirked as she spoke pretty loudly. "Oh thanks Connie! I'm glad we became friends as well. I hope to talk more about the books we just read."

"Love to! Okay, Bye you love birds! You too Pearl!" Connie yells back as she runs off giggling to herself.

The couple giggled as well and looked back to see Pearl looking quite blue in the face. Steven held a smirk and thought of his own plan and pulled Peridot closer to him. He looked at Pearl one more time before kissing her girlfriend on the lips. The two try not to laugh as Pearl squawked like a bird in disgust and run back into her room. The two make out a bit before pulling out of it gasping for air.

Peridot laughed and pointed her boyfriend. "You did that on purpose."

Steven tried to look guilty about it, but couldn't stop smiling. "Maybe~"

"Oh my devious quartz~" Peridot purred as she snuggled up to Steven's chest. "You're so bad."

Steven just smiled down at his girlfriend as he pulls them to the couch. "I didn't want to be mean, but Pearl needs to learn that I'm not a kid and that Connie isn't like what she said. I can't wait to talk to dad about going to school soon. We can finally get out of here."

"Me too." Peridot sighed and looked outside at the sun setting down now, "I think Lapis will be okay by herself tonight. I guess I'm sleeping with you."

"I would love that my little pie."

"Good… let's make out some more."

The gem boy just chuckles and the two have a great time before going to bed for the night.


	5. A Squad With A Mission

**Hello Readers!**

 **This is my own version of the episode, 'Short Squad'.**

 **Enjoy!**

It was another normal day for the pink and green couple. It has been two weeks since Connie spoke with Steven and Peridot, and the three had gotten close as a big friend group. They have hung out almost everyday since Connie spoke to her mom about them thinking of going to school. Peridot learned how to read human language fast, and once she learned how numbers and math look on earth the green gem became better than Steven. Steven was okay, and learned pretty fast thanks to Connie.

Now the gems were learning writing, mainly for Peridot, and human history. Steven remembered how Pearl had said the human history was pointless, but once Connie started to read them the history the two gems were modified. The young hybrid got nightmares of all the fights and battles his friend had spoke about. When Connie asked him about him knowing any of it, Steven was honest and told her how the gems never told him anything. The three realized how much they were making Steven a gem than a human.

The weeks had come on gone, and with Pearl only coming out for missions and when Peridot is not around, the three were sitting around the couch reading some books Connie had brought. Steven had a book in one hand and his other hand was in his girlfriend's lime green hair while she laid on his lap. Connie was sitting by Peridot's feet and drinking a soda. The group was peacefully quiet until something popped in Steven's head.

"Oh… Peridot! I totally forgot to give you something!"

The two girls look at the boy with confusion as Peridot got up from his lap. The green gem looked at her boyfriend in distress as he got up and went to his little storage closet near the couch. "Steven? What's wrong? What is it?"

Steven just kept digging into his mess closet until he got a small green package. He looked back at the two with a smile on his face. "I forgot to give you this Peri! My gave it to me when he didn't want it for himself. I looked at it and knew it was perfect for you!"

He hands her the package and smiled as she looked at the green bow on it. Connie placed down her book and got closer to her green friend in interest. She coos in excitement as she spoke, "Ohh… I wonder what your boyfriend got you Peridot. Open it up!"

Peridot looked at Connie before ripping off the wrapping. Once the green paper was removed, Steven blushed with a smile as Connie gasped at the object. Peridot was confused at what it was and left it up in her hands. It was a flat smooth pad to Peridot. It was black and looked to only have one button.

The green gem looked back up at Steven and asked, "What is this Steven?"

"It's a tablet Peridot!" The hybrid answered.

"Tablet?"

"Here," Connie pulls the tablet out of her hand and shows it to her, "It's a screen that you can control with your hands. You just push this button… then you can move the screen like this."

The brunette turned on the pad and watched as Peridot's eyes shined with awe. Then Connie moved the screen around and touched the apps on it to open. Peridot gasped and took the pad from Connie to do it herself. She was having fun with it.

Steven saw the bright grin on his love's face and sat back down by her. He chuckles as he spoke up, "See Peridot. It's almost like your robo-limb! I hope you like it."

Peridot hugs the tablet in pure joy and looks back at her boyfriend. "I love it!" She then jumps into his arms and kissed him hard on the lips. Steven was in shocked but slowly kissed back at her.

Connie couldn't help but smile sweetly at them; seeing how much they loved each other made her heart fill with happiness itself. She was happy for Steven. He was like a brother to her.

Everything was great until Amethyst came in and saw the two kiss. And like the purple, she had to ruin it with a whistle.

"Yoy… Steve-man getting it on!"

The couple broke apart in shock and blushed as they looked angrily at the short gem. They both shout out, "Amethyst!"

Connie and Amethyst braked out in laughter seeing the two blush so bad. Steven just pouted and pulled Peridot in his lap. He looked back up at Amethyst as she came over to them. "What do you want Amethyst?"

"Just pasting by. What were you three doing?"

Connie showed her book to the purple gem and answered, "Reading some Fantasy. It's called 'Harry Potter'."

Peridot nods as she jumps in, "I don't like Dumbledore."

"What!?" Steven yells at his girlfriend, "How can you not like him? He's the good guy."

"No, he isn't. He was the real reason the boy's parents were killed, and he was also the one that send him to magic hating muggles when he knew they would beat Harry. He wanted to beat the boy down and remake him as a weapon to defeat Voldemort. All in All, the old coot was the real villain in the whole book. He brainwashed the kid and many more." Peridot explain.

Both Steven and Connie looked at each other before looking back at the green gem. The two thought real hard at the information and the books' whole story before they both groaned in despair.

Connie throws her book to the ground and frowned angrily at it. "I can't believe it! The whole story is a lie!"

"I was rooting for the villain! The Villain won all along! The Light was wrong!" Steven moaned in despair, then sighed deeply. "Well... now it's happening … I'm part of the dark side now. All hail The Dark Lord!"

Peridot smirked in victory. "I told you Voldemort was the better person, even though he did kill tons of people. He was even tricked to kill the Potters."

"Huh…" Amethyst said in confusion, "Not that I love to see you guys whine over a book… but… what do you guys want to do about us the rest of the afternoon."

Steven looked back up the purple gem in slight confusion. "Us?"

"Yeah man! We're 'The Short Squad' of The Crystal Gems. We got to hang out! Just the four of us!"

"Um… you know… that's not a bad idea. We never really have fun around the other two big gems. Plus… we could always use one more in our group. This could be fun!" Connie explained to the other two.

Steven grins at the idea. "You're right! We sure hang out! Maybe go to Funland. What do you think Peri?"

"Um…" Peridot thought about it, "That sound promising… I'll go, but… let me do one thing."

The small green gem jumped off Steven's lap and walked back to the closest. The three other shorties just looked in confusion as Peridot took her pad and attached it to her arm which had velcro on it. Peridot looked at her invention and jumped in joy as she turned around to the group.

"Tada!" Showing off the tablet on her arm, "See! Now I can carry it around with me!"

"Great idea Peridot! You guys ready to go!" Steven said while getting up from the couch.

Connie and Amethyst nod and follow the two out the door. The four head straight to Funland at the Beach City Court Yard. The Four went straight to the arcade and played a few games. Amethyst went straight a good shooting zombie game while Connie went to Pac-man. Steven decided to show Peridot a racing game. It took a lot of tries, but soon the green gem was race way better then anyone in the whole arcade. Mr. Smiley kicked them out however when Amethyst started to destroy the zombie game.

The gang then went to ring toss as Peridot want a green alien plush. Steven wanted to get it for her, but the green gem tried it herself. She failed but the group was really supportive and told her to try later. Soon, they just started to walk around until the light purple haired gem wanted to go on the roller coaster. The sad thing was there was a height limit.

Connie sighed in defeat as she read the sign. "Ah man… I guess we can't go on."

"It's too bad we can't just grow." Steven frowns as well while holding Peridot's hand.

Amethyst just smirked as she looked at the three. "That's the point. Let's just grow!"

Amethyst then shifted to a taller and older looking teenager. She waited for Steven and the others, but they all shock their heads at her. Steven did a dry chuckle and rubbed his head as he spoke to her. "Sorry Amethyst… but I'm not doing that. Last time I stretched it ended up with me as a baby. I'll wait till I grow."

Connie nodded as well to this. "Yeah… same here. I can't even do that."

Peridot blushed as they all looked at her. She just sighed as she frowned deeply. "I'm an Era 2 gem. I can't change my shape like that. I can change my clothes and my looks, but only as the height I am now."

The three look at her with a sad but shocked looked. Amethyst shape shifted back to her real form and the four walked away to sit down. No one spoke for quite some time as they all held a frown on their face. Peridot had the biggest frown.

After a moment of silence, Connie spoke what the others were thinking. "Well… that's sad Peridot. You can't do anything?"

Peridot just sighed as she looked at her brunette friend. "I'm not sure. I'm too new. Resources are low on Homeworld, and because of the gem war, the Diamonds thought it was better to limit our gem powers. No one really knows what a Peridot can do because they give us limb enhancers before then."

"Well, we have to just find out then. " Steven stated. "We can list the thing me and the gems can do and see if you can do them. We're bound to find something.

"Really?"

"Every gem can do something."

Amethyst nodded as she got up and says, "Alright! Short Squad's first mission: Finds Peri's powers! Who's ready!?'

"We are!" Steven and Connie jump with the purple gem while Peridot just seem to blush with a small smile.

At that moment the three Short Squad members listed powers and tricks that Steven and the other gems could do as Peridot tried them. The other two gems showed her how to stretch, summon a weapon, and change her height but nothing was working. Amethyst showed off her spike ball move, but not even Steven could do that so they took that off. Steven's healing and aging was also off the table because only Rose had that power, and one was because Steven was human. The team was at a dead road.

Connie looked up online for peridot stones and it showed how they are strong in heat and are tough as nails. Amethyst took this to the test and got the deadly fire salt out from her hair (No one even wanted to know) and gave Peri the whole thing. She ate it and just felt energized after that. The fire salt was like a power boost, so the squad found one thing she has: Fire salt gives Peridot energy.

They had tried the tough as nails part, and Steven had to be tied down while Connie and Amethyst beat down Peridot. It went too far for the hybrid as the purple gem threw a rock on the green gem. Steven was two seconds from poofing Amethyst if Peridot hadn't came out from the rock with just a few cuts. The group put that on the list as well. After Steven threaten them NOT to do that again.

It was two things down are that, but it was still so small. The group was running out of ideas and where about to give up for the day.

As Steven was talking at Amethyst, Peridot was sitting by Connie as she was using the tablet for more research. The brunette was about to give up too, but then she found a weird site. She read it, and gasped a bit at what she read.

She then thought about what she read and looked at Peridot. Her gears were running as she thought more about it. Was it possible? Did Peridot have that power? Well… Lapis and Garnet had powers like that… why not Peridot too.

Thinking of a great plan, Connie closed down the pad and got up to face Peridot. She spoke calmly, "You know Peridot… I couldn't find anymore on normal Peridots. Looks like we reached a dead end."

Hearing this, Steven looked at the two female and spoke in disbelief. "No way Connie. There has to be more."

Connie kept a blank face as she shock her head, "I'm sorry Steven, but I found nothing else."

"See, " Peridot spoke, "I can't do anything."

Steven frowned at his gem's words. "That's not true Peri. Every gem can do something."

"Well not me."

Amethyst snapped a bit at that, "So you're just going to give up!?"

The lime haired gem just shrugged in defeat. The other gems look at her with sad eyes and deep frowns. Connie smirked just a bit as she took her plan into motion. "Well… I think I know what's wrong."

"What?" Steven and Amethyst poke in unison.

The brunette raises the tablet up in the air to show all three of the gems. Peridot is really confused now.

"This is the problem." Connie declared, "She's too much into her past. All her time on Homeworld was tech. Giving her this stuck her in the past! She's needs to get rid of this!"

Peridot held a face of fear as she tried now to get her pad, but Connie was smarter and held is away from. Steven tried to stop Connie, but Amethyst, getting Connie's plan, held him back as the two females went closer to the ocean. Peridot was getting more desperate now and started to yell in despair.

"No! Connie stop! Steven gave me that!"

"Connie! What are you doing!?" Steven tried harder to pull from the purple gem but was stuck. "Amethyst! Let me go! Connie, this is too far!"

"No way Steven!" Connie yelled back as she points to the green gem. "You'll never do anything if you kept living the past. This is just a useless piece of that past, so it has to go!"

The brunette, to everyone's horror, throws it towards the ocean. Amethyst let go of Steven at of shock and Steven started to run to the two. Connie was praying to god that this had to work as she heard Peridot scream in horror. The small lime haired gem was watching her new gift about to hit the water. She wasn't that smart with human tech, but she knew that once it hit there it would be gone forever.

"NO! I NEED THAT! IT'S STEVEN GIFT TO ME! I NEED IT!" Peridot screamed has she held out her hands to it.

It was silent after Peridot screamed. Connie gasped in shock and joy at what she saw. Steven and Amethyst came up to the two and gasped at the scene as well. Amethyst did a quite 'wow' and Connie just smiled in triumph.

"Peridot…" Steven spoke softly to her.

The green gem opened her eyes and they had widen at what she saw. Her tablet was safe. Safe and floating above the water three feet in the air.

Peridot looked at her out stretched hands and back at her floating tablet. When she moved her hands back a bit, the object moved closer to her. Amethyst and Steven gasped again while Connie just grinned and crossed her arms.

"Told you every gem can do something. I knew it would work."

As Peridot just looked at Connie in shock, Steven started to cheer in victory and Amethyst laughed with the boy. Peridot smiled in joy as she used her new power to bring her tablet back to her. Once the object was right above her, she held out her hand and watched as the pad fall into her hands. The others came closer to her to look at the tablet to it was fine.

Steven look ed at his friend and asked, "How did you knew Peridot had Metal powers, Connie?"

Connie just shrugged, "It said on the internet that they were magnetic if done right. I just wanted to be sure. I thinks how they work their limb enhancers on earth. The Diamonds just don't tell them in fear."

"Ah man Peri," Amethyst chuckled, "Do you know what you can do now."

Peridot just smiled at the purple gem. "I know what to do. Back to the ring toss!"

"Alright! Go Peri Group!" Steven cheered.

"No," Peridot corrects her boyfriend as she pulls Connie in an arm hug and cheers,

"The Short Squad!"

 **And that's it!**

 **Note that I don't own '** **Harry Potter'.** **Also, I believe that Dumbledore was messed up in the whole series and I hate him, even though I love the books.**

 **I'll write the next chappy soon.**

 **Till then,**

 **Bye! ;)**


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